Libya Protests-Violence on the Streets

There are so many protests taking place in Libya, every day. Although I cannot pinpoint exactly where or why they started, I can shed a light on the recent issues. From what I have read, the root of these problems are from the Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi. It seems as though there is a lot of hate towards Moammar Gadhafi and what he is doing to Libya. You might want to know, what crime has he committed? Recent news states that Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo wanted nothing more than for the judges to issue an arrest warrant for  Moammar Gadhafi at the International Criminal Court, along with Moammar's son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi. The Prosecutor believes they should be arrested due to the violence created from Moammar Gadhafi targetting the people of Libya to lash out and go against the pro-democracy demonstrators. To the courtroom, he states evidence that Gadhafi had ordered violent attacks upon unarmed civilians. The issue is clearly an attack on human rights. Gadhafi has created hate and violence toward humans who have been trying to express themselves and their opinions. The violence has gone too far, with so many Libyans murdered. If the arrest is issued, this would mean that Gadhafi, along with his son and the intelligence chief, could be arrested in any of the United Nations member countries. Although there is a warrant, this doesn't mean that Gadhafi can be caught.

Recently, CBC radio had a broadcast on the issue of these protests. Here it is said that there are about 200 deaths in Libya at the moment, but there are many reports giving much higher numbers. To give you an idea of the extent of the violence, a Libyan-Canadian, Omar Bengezi, tells some of his story. Omar now lives in Hamilton, Ontario, but once was a citizen of Libya. After Omar's brother insulted Gadhafi, he, along with many other citizens had to flee their homes because of their "incorrect" political views. It's unbelieveable how easy it is to get killed, become homeless and have other horrible things happen to you just because you don't agree with the Libyan leader, or because you have the "wrong" views.

BBC News says that in Gadhafi's first major speech he urged his supporters to go and attack the "cockroaches" that go against his rules. He also said how he has only brought glory to Libya and that he will remain the head of the revolution. He reffers to all of the protesters as " rats and merceneries". While Gadhafi says his speech, there were reports of gunfire and extreme violence in Libya's capital, Benghazi. Not only was there gunfire, the civilians who were watching the BBC News report were throwing shoes at the screen in anger. In the video of Gadhafi's speech ( not known to be live or pre-recorded ), the cameras would cut away to show a statue of a giant fist crushing a US war plane.

There have been many people, and many groups/activists trying to get rid of Gadhafi for years now. One of the oldest groups is the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. This group was established on October 7th, 1981. It is led by a former Libyan military officer, Ibrahim Abdulaziz Sahad.  The NFSL has held a very large number of protests, media campaigns and political alliances with other anti-Gadhafi groups over the years. They have been in many disputes, and recently have had much support and recognition due to the severeness of the Libyan civil war.

More and more people are realizing the extreme damage Gadhafi is causing Libya, and are creating movements across the world to make this stop. It is great to see people hold their opinions high and not stop until the war ends. In recent blogs, it has been tough to see that so many people are not noticing the issues in Africa, and not helping, but slowly Libya is receiving more help and hopefully, in future years, it will start to become a much more stable country, hopefully without Moammar Gadhafi as their leader. The protesters definitely do start violence from protesting in the first place, but in my opinion and many others, the protesters wouldn't have started this if Gadhafi hadn't been so violent and done what he has done to many of their families and friends.

 

Moammar Gadhafi adressing general assembly at the United Nations

  To view more photos on the impact of  Leader Moammar Gadhafi, click here.
Also, view a video on a protest mob in the streets of Libya. ( warning, this may be disturbing for some people.)